Page 46 of Wildest Dream

Minutes passed, and Isaac could still hear sounds from the bathroom. He stood up and put his ear near the door. He put his hand in the air like he was about to knock, but he waited. He heard her run water in the sink briefly, and he figured he had given her enough time to get dressed. He gave two light taps on the door, and within seconds it opened. He saw the light from the bathroom, but he kept his eyes closed tightly.

"Why are your eyes closed?" he heard her say. "I wouldn’t have opened the door if I wasn't decent."

Her words caused Isaac to open his eyes, and he smiled and took her into his arms the instant he saw her. She let out a little squeal since she wasn't expecting it.

"Hey," she said as she got settled in his embrace.

"Hey. I love your PJs. I've never seen you in PJs. Also, I love how you smell." He buried his face in her neck and took a deep breath. She smelled like peaches and raspberries and roses. He actually had no idea what she smelled like, but it was amazing. Isaac wanted to breathe her in. He held her, hugging her and nestling his face near her neck.

She held onto the back of his head, lacing her fingers through his hair.

"You smell amazing," he said, moving and rubbing his face against her.

It caused her to let out a laugh, which only made him hold her tighter. "That's my old shower gel from when I was in high school. It's not the same bottle, but my mom still thinks I like it, so she buys it when I come visit."

"I love it," he said, smelling her again.

"I can't believe you love it. It's just the cheap stuff."

He held her, breathing her in. "Not on you, it's not," he said.

"You flatter me, but you don't even need to, Mister Alexander. If you only knew how shaken up you got me earlier when you were going all Lebron James on my brothers."

"When?"

"When,when you were playing basketball."

"I was definitely not going Lebron James. I was going easy."

"Exactly! That's why you looked like Lebron James. I could tell you were going easy and they were trying with all their might."

Isaac laughed and she held onto him.

"I'm serious," she said. "I was proud of you. I didn't know you had skills like that."

"Hmm, I thought I told you," he said, rubbing his chin confidently. Isaac was playing it cool, but he had never wanted anything more in his life. It felt like more than love. It felt like the sort of love that was undeniably destined.

"Isaac."

He was so preoccupied with the feel and smell of Ari that he was surprised when her voice sounded serious and maybe even a little concerned. He pulled back to look at her.

"It's okay. I’m fine. I'm just… but I was in the bathroom that whole time thinking about it, and I haveno earthly cluewhere that t-shirt came from. It's definitely been in the bottom of my drawer for years, and I've looked at it before, but I always thought of it as the one Jenny got me for my birthday. Now I realize that she's right about the yellow one. It was My Little Pony. I've been sitting in the tub trying to rack my brain about that other one." She stared at him. "I have no idea where it came from, Isaac. I know it's been in my drawer, but… it's an area that's just missing in my mind. I don't remember any of my friends having one like that, and even so, why would I have it? I don't know whose shirt that is, honestly."

Ari was serious, almost like the mystery concerned her, but Isaac just smiled and held onto her. She was cuddly in her flannel pajamas, and he wanted to have her next to him forever. "Ari, the shirt being in your drawer out of thin air isn't a big deal to me in the grand scheme of this whole story. It's not even that big of a surprise after everything else."

She glanced up at him with a serious expression. "I honestly have no idea where that shirt came from."

"I do, Ari."

"Where?"

He adjusted her in his arms. "Do you know that ever since you told me that you write down your prayers, I've been doing that?"

"What? Have you really?" She pulled back, staring at him, and looking happy even though it was a change of subject.

"Yes, I have," he said. "I do it every night now. I have a little notebook, and every night before I let myself fall asleep, I write down prayers to God. It takes me all of three minutes, and it hastotally changedthe way I look at things. I'm not good at praying. I never have been. I space out and start thinking about other things. Writing prayers down literally made me go from a non-praying person to a praying person. I needed that in my life. I needed to start praying and talking to God, and I don’t know if it would have happened if not for you. That fact alone was enough of a reason that I think God would want to bring you into my life."

"I can't believe you write down your prayers," she said.

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